US STOCKS-Tech recovery nudges Wall Street higher

* Tech rebounds following recent selloff

* Home Depot (Swiss: HD-USD.SW - news) falls after announcing buyback plan

* Oil falls after surprise rise in US fuel inventories

* Indexes: Dow +0.09 pct, S&P 500 +0.16 pct, Nasdaq +0.31 pct (Updates to afternoon)

By Noel Randewich

Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes edged higher on Wednesday, with Microsoft (Euronext: MSF.NX - news) and other technology stocks making modest gains and helping offset losses in energy shares after oil prices dropped more than 2 percent.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) of Microsoft, Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) and Google-parent Alphabet (Xetra: ABEA.DE - news) rose more than 1 percent as the technology sector recovered from a recent selloff. Investors are evaluating the details of the new tax code as U.S. Senate Republicans attempt to reconcile their version of the bill with that of the House of Representatives. "It's hard to speculate on what the final bill is going to say. I think the market moves a little bit on that, but mostly moves on fundamentals and sentiment, which are strong," said Sean O'Hara, director at Pacer Financial Inc.

The bill passed on Saturday (Shenzhen: 002291.SZ - news) by Republican senators included a last-minute change to retain the corporate alternative minimum tax, or AMT, which had initially been removed.

Including the AMT could negate parts of the bill seen as beneficial to tech companies and other corporations.

Oil prices hit two-year lows after a surprise rise in U.S. inventories of refined products suggested demand may be flagging.

Schlumberger (IOB: 0CT7.IL - news) , Exxon and Chevron (Euronext: CHTEX.NX - news) fell between 0.4 percent and 2.3 percent, helping push the S&P 500 energy index down 1.2 percent.

"Energy has had a mini-surge over the past month or so, and so I think this inventory build is being viewed as an opportunity to take some profits," said Mike Baele, managing director at U.S. Bank Private Client Wealth Management in Portland, Oregon.

At 2:37 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.09 percent at 24,203.25 points, while the S&P 500 had gained 0.16 percent to 2,633.91.

The Nasdaq Composite added 0.31 percent to 6,782.90.

Home Depot slipped 0.9 percent after the home improvement retailer announced a $15 billion share repurchase plan. The stock was the biggest drag on the Dow.

H&R Block (NYSE: HRB - news) surged 9.2 percent after the tax preparation service provider reported better-than-expected revenue.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.28-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq (Frankfurt: 813516 - news) , a 1.47-to-1 ratio favored decliners. (Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski)